All Issues

The California lifestyle depends on easy access to in-expensive energy. Continued rising energy costs probably will mean drastic alterations in that lifestyle and consequently in the growth patterns of the state's communities. It seems apparent, furthermore, that public attitudes about the energy crisis - its causes and consequences — will influence state and national policy.

Pallets used in the module system for handling and storing seed cotton are awkward to manage, are easily damaged, and represent a large capital investment. The Reynolds module mover, which first became commercially available in 1975, picks up and hauls cotton modules made directly on the ground. It is similar to haystack movers that have been available for several years. Palletless modules will remain intact through several loading and unloading cycles with the Reynolds mover.

Spect acular biological control of crown gall was achieved last year in an experiment carried out on young almond, peach, plum, and apricot trees in a California nursery. This new approach to control of a difficult disease is of interest to West Coast nurserymen producing woody perennial plants, and also to growers planting new deciduous fruit orchards.

Decline and death of bearing cherry trees resulted in an estimated loss of 22 percent of all sweet cherry trees in San Joaquin County during 1973-75. During 1972-74 heavier than normal rainfall occurred, especially during late winter and early spring. In 1975 some orchards were almost 100 percent affected with crown and root rots. In previous years crown and root rot diseases were always prevalent in cherry orchards on poorly drained soil, but in 1975 these losses were excessive, and growers were forced to remove many acres of declining and dead trees.

A new method of applying a preemergence herbicide in sugar beets by sprinklers may reduce costs to growers by eliminating power incorporation. More than 40 percent of Imperial Valley's 65,000 acres of sugar beets are normally sprinkled to achieve germination. Ro-Neet (cycloate) is commonly incorporated by power equipment as a preplant treatment to control troublesome weeds in sugar beets, whether germinated by sprinkler or by furrow irrigation.

Powdery mildew caused by the fungus Sphaerotheca fuliginea (Schlecht.) Poll. is responsible for reduced cantaloupe, cucumber, and squash yields in many production areas. Trials were initiated to test several new materials for control of the fungus.

Pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossy-piella (Saunders), invaded southern California's lower desert valleys during the 1966 cotton growing season. Because of the widespread, damaging infestation levels, multiple applications of broad-spectrum insecticides have been used to reduce losses. These insecticides have proved extremely toxic to beneficial insect populations and are suspected of inducing outbreaks of other cotton pests.

California's third largest carrot-producing county is Imperial County, with more than 6,000 acres of carrots. Fields are planted to carrots during September to November and harvested from December to June. more than 90 percent of the acreage is planted to the Imperator 57 cultiver.